About 200 people summoned by the ANC have gathered this evening in Plaça d’Espanya to protest against the presence of Felipe VI in Barcelona on the occasion of the opening dinner of the Mobile World Congress. The mobilization of the Assembly was called under the Venetian towers at half past seven in the afternoon, an hour before the start of the meeting of the authorities at the National Palace. Whistles, banners, burning posters of Felipe VI and a portrait of the monarch upside down projected on one of the towers have been the ingredients of an otherwise peaceful protest. The president of the entity, Dolors Feliu, has asked the president Pere Aragonès for more gestures against the “Spanish presence” at the opening dinner of the Mobile.
Two hundred people protested under the Venetian towers of the Spanish Steps this afternoon, shortly before the opening dinner of Mobile 2023. During the rally, posters with the image of King Felipe VI upside down, the same print that was projected on one of the two towers. On the other, the motto of the call was read: neither king, nor crown.
Several vehicles of the Mobile Brigade were monitoring the protest from afar, which otherwise passed peacefully, and spontaneously dissolved before eight in the evening. Shortly after, traffic was reopened on Avinguda de Maria Cristina.
During the event, the president of the ANC, Dolors Feliu, charged against the presence of Felipe VI and also that of the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, in Barcelona for Mobile. “Pretenen representar Catalunya en un fet rellevant, perquè caigui de la banda espanyola i no catalana, a apropiar-se’n; i no ho podem permetre perquè els catalans ens representem a nosaltres mateixos”, ha manifestat.
In this regard, Feliu has said that he would have liked the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, to “show forcefully” his rejection of the Spanish representation. “More gestures should be made to make this visible”, he said without specifying which ones.